The invention relates to coin-operated amusement devices, especially rolling ball games, and specifically to an accessory for transferring momentum of a game ball to one or more other balls for amusement and scoring purposes.
Rolling ball games, such as pinball games, have been in existence for a number of years and typically comprise a game ball controlled by a player via flipper devices to interact with various playfield features. The features must present a challenge to the player, but must not be too difficult to activate or engage, otherwise player interest will be lost. One type of playfield feature, aptly termed a captured ball device, comprises one or more balls held captive between a pair of guide rails on the playfield. One of the captive balls is exposed to the playfield area such that when the player, using flipper elements, projects the game ball towards the exposed ball, the balls collide and momentum from the game ball is transferred through a line of captive balls to an end ball, projecting it towards a target. This device has been appropriately termed the Newton Ball device because it illustrates one of Newton's law of motion.
The general scheme of such prior art devices is illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2A, 2B and 2C. As can be seen from FIG. 1, the Newton Ball device is situated within a pinball cabinet 10 having a back box 12 which houses a display panel 14 for displaying the game score. Housed within the game cabinet 10 is an inclined playfield 16 which includes thereon a number of game features such as bumpers, targets and the like. The player activates flipper elements 18 to project the game ball towards the playfield features. Newton Ball device 20 is disposed on the playfield. While two captive balls are shown in the Figure, it is to be understood that any number of balls may be held captive in the Newton Ball device, so long as the uppermost ball is free to be projected towards the target.
Referring to FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C, guide assembly 40 is mounted on the playfield 16 and includes two rails 42 with guide edges 44 spaced apart at a distance slightly more than a ball diameter. Guide assembly 40 is raised above playfield 16 a distance approximating half a ball diameter on supports 28 such as those shown in FIG. 3, for example. A pair of bumper elements 46 are provided at the distal ends of the guide rails 42 and restrict the movement of impact ball A. Guide assembly 40 together with bumper elements 46 defines a captive ball travel area 50 wherein captive ball B may travel as it is projected towards target element 48. Impact ball A rests against the bumper elements 46 during play due to the incline of the playfield but is otherwise unrestrained from moving. Similarly, captive ball B rests against ball A. During play, the player, using flipper elements projects game ball C towards the impact ball A in order to engage it. When game ball C collides with impact ball A as shown in FIG. 2B, captive ball B is projected towards the target element 48 in the direction of arrow Y. During the collision with game ball C, ball A remains in place since all of the momentum of ball C is transferred to ball B; the net momentum transferred to ball A is effectively zero. FIG. 2C shows a target zone 60 which is a sector having angle .theta.. Target zone 60 defines the area of approach that the center of game ball C must occupy in order to collide with impact ball A.
In prior an devices, the target zone 60 is limited by bumper elements 46. If the center of game ball C does not approach ball A from the target zone, ball C will strike one of the bumper elements 46 instead of ball A and the device will not be activated. This wastes the player's flipper shot and reduces game action and appeal. Moreover, bumper elements 46 represent an increase in complexity and cost of the device as well as a hindrance to judgment of the player in determining the target area of ball A.
There is thus desired a device which has an increased target zone as compared to prior art devices and which is simple in design thereby resulting in decrease costs of manufacture and assembly.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an improved Newton Ball or momentum transfer device which has an increased target zone and therefore, increased game action and player appeal.
It is another object of the invention to provide a momentum transfer device with a reduced number of parts and simplified assembly and manufacture over prior art devices. These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the remaining portion of the specification and drawings.